The minister of education, Tahir Mamman, says the federal government will flush out individuals in public and private organisations that are working with sham certificates.
He delivered his speech in Abuja on Friday when he received the report of an inter-ministerial investigative committee on degree certificate milling.
Mamman, had on the 9th of January inaugurated the committee chaired by Jubrila Amin, a professor, to probe the credibility of allegations of degree racketeering within foreign and local private universities.
The committee was charged to review the role of any ministry, department and agencies (MDAs) or officials in the facilitation of the recognition and procurement of false certificates.
Whilst commenting on the findings of the committee, Mamman pronounced that the ministry would work with relevant agencies to sanitise the education sector and eliminate any fake tendencies.
“We can’t afford to have the integrity of our education soiled by some few persons. It is possible that some are carrying fake certificates in public and private organisations that need to be flushed out,” he said.
“This report is a product of a thorough investigation. It is sad that someone who should come out from a Nigerian institution with a 2:1 or 2:2 is now parading an international certificate of first class.
“The ministry is determined to take steps to sanitise the system. We can’t afford to let down our country when it comes to standards.”
The education minister vowed to take decisive measures to make sure that standards are maintained in the system.
The chairman of the committee had earlier condemned the poor standards of education found in schools that his team investigated.
Amin, however, recommended that all agencies in the education sector must digitise/automate their system, adding that the problem demands a swift intervention.
He further said the committee discovered that the present procedure for accreditation and evaluation of university results is deficient.
Amin, then implored the National Universities Commission (NUC) to scrutinise institutions offering part-time or sandwich programmes in the country.
“People go and get fake degrees and we have been to those countries and we know what a proper degree looks like, we know what the fake one looks like,” he said.
“We have given it to the ministry to scrutinise anyone presenting a certificate from those institutions and anything else is fake. It is up to the ministry to find people with fake certificates and deal with them.”